DARPA to Present Open-Source, Secure Voting System at DEF CON 2019

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will present the hardware specifications of a new open-source voting system prototype during an annual hacking event in Las Vegas. The new system is part of DARPA’s System Security Integrated Through Hardware and Firmware program to develop security architectures and tools designed to protect voting systems from hardware vulnerabilities exploited in software, the agency said Thursday. 

Hackers will test the prototype at DEF CON’s Voting Machine Hacking Village to assess and measure the security of the system’s processors, which will be mounted on field programmable gate arrays and incorporated into a secure ballot box. Following the event, the technology will be further evaluated by cybersecurity experts from the academia. The annual hacking convention will take place from Aug. 8 to 11.